Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 8
Title: “Smart Kids”
Medium: television series episode
Original airdate: 31 Oct. 1993
Publisher:
8 characters in this story:
| Character (Click links for info about character and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.) |
Religious Affiliation |
Team(s) [Notes] |
Pub. | # app. |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Kryptonians; Super Friends...  |
 |
13,409 | ||||||
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Raleigh College [Superman's girlfriend, then wife] |
|
3,859 | ||||||
|
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The Legion of Super-Heroes [Superman's pal] |
|
1,896 | ||||||
|
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[Superman's (Clark Kent's) boss; Daily Planet editor] | |
1,574 | ||||||
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[Superman's adoptive father] | |
816 | ||||||
|
|
[Superman's adoptive mother] | |
827 | ||||||
|
|
Injustice League; Secret Six... |
|
1,508 | ||||||
|
|
[Daily Planet gossip columnist; co-worker of Clark Kent] | |
140 |
Timecode: 0 minutes, 12 seconds: Inside a building identified by a sign out front as "Beckworth State School" (an orphanage), we see a pet pig on a leash. One child of about 11 years of age holds the leash. Three other children are there, for a total of four: Philip Manning, Amy Valdez, Dudley Nicholas and Inez.
Philip Manning (young boy): What's Socrates doing here?
Amy Valdez (young girl): I'm not leaving him. We're in this together.
The pig's name is "Socrates," named after the famous and influential Greek philosopher. The pig's name is an indication that these are very intelligent children, whose knowledge and interests far exceed that of their similarly-aged peers.
BELOW: Four orphans and a pig named Socrates:
Source: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 8 (31 Oct. 1993). Written by Daniel LeVine. Directed by Robert Singer.
Timecode: 3 minutes, 45 seconds: The offices of The Daily Planet. Clark Kent arrives at the office for a day of work. He takes a bite of a fresh apple as he does so, and its crunch can be heard loudly.
Lois Lane: Could you turn up the volume on that? I don't think they heard you in Borneo.
Clark Kent: Fascinating place, Borneo. I did some wonderful work there in preserving the natural habitat of the native orangutan.
BELOW: Lois insults promiscuous co-worker Cat Grant:
Source: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 8 (31 Oct. 1993). Written by Daniel LeVine. Directed by Robert Singer.
Cat Grant: Hmmm . . . I love a well-traveled man. They broaden my horizons.
Lois Lane: Assuming that's possible.
Lois Lane's comment here may imply that because because Cat Grant is so promiscuous, her relevant body part has already been "broadened" as much as is physically possible. On the other hand, Lois's intention may not have been so pointedly vulgar. She may have simply been joking about Cat's promiscuous lifestyle in general, without considering specific physical ramifications.
Jimmy Olsen: You know, orangutans always look so wise.
Cat Grant: Orangutans throw mud at people at the zoo, Jimmy.
Cat Grant throws a crumpled-up piece of paper at Jimmy Olsen. Newspaper editor Perry White enters the room, having heard the last bit of conversation there. Talk about a primate makes Perry think of the primate he knows best, given his personal devotion to Elvis Presley.
BELOW: Elvis-worshipper Perry White recalls Presley's chimpanzee Scatter:
Source: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 8 (31 Oct. 1993). Written by Daniel LeVine. Directed by Robert Singer.
Perry White: Scatter.
Lois Lane: What?
Perry White: Elvis' pet chimpanzee, Scatter. Poor little fellow drank himself to death.
Timecode: 7 minutes, 25 seconds: Scene: Lex Luthor's office. Lex Luthor is looking at a set of large glossy photographs of the four children who escaped from the orphanage. With him in the office is Dr. Carlton, the neurologist who has been experimenting on the children, at the behest of Lex Luthor himself. Dr. Carlton is clearly nervous and agitated about the children being missing, but Lex Luthor is the very picture of cool calmness.
Dr. Carlton: We must get them back!
Lex Luthor: Why are you so nervous, Dr. Carlton?
Dr. Carlton: You told me there would be no risk of exposure. I have a reputation in the scientific community. I cannot afford--
As a nervous Dr. Carlton continues raising his voice, a calm, smiling Lex Luthor calmly walks over to him and slaps him across the face with all his strength. Dr. Carlton falls into a chair, stunned, but quieter.
Lex Luthor: Better?
Dr. Carlton: [Cowering in fear.] Yes.
Lex Luthor: It's no time for panic. We'll have our little rug rats back in the lab soon enough.
Dr. Carlton: But now the police are involved.
Lex Luthor: Well, if they find them before we do, they'll simply return them to the school. Ex hypothesi.
Dr. Carlton: But what if they talk?
Lex Luthor: Well, they won't. They're too smart for that. If they do, it'll be their last taste of Mentamide 5. Now, do you think that they'd risk it?
Dr. Carlton: No, the emotional dependence is too great.
Lex Luthor: Well, then. Now . . . Just how smart are they?
Dr. Carlton: Well, you see . . . I expected a 10% to 20% rise in I.Q. It seems to be a great deal more.
Lex Luthor: Marvelous. Don't you think?
Dr. Carlton: Yes. Yes.
Lex Luthor: Now, how long before they reach stage two?
Dr. Carlton: Ah, well, you see, that would depend on the rate of absorption into each of their individual systems.
Lex Luthor: Now, we'll need to pinpoint that data.
Dr. Carlton: Eh, but, um, that would require vivisection.
Lex Luthor: My dear Dr. Carlton, you can't make chicken soup without plucking a few chickens.
Lex Luthor smiles menacingly when he says this. He is fully aware that he is ordering the murder of these children so that they can be disected and examined more closely. A look of shock passes over the face of Dr. Carlton as he realizes what he is being ordered to do. Ominous notes from the underscore play, closing out the scene.
BELOW: Lex Luthor's evil is manifest in his willingness to murder and dissect children:
Source: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 8 (31 Oct. 1993). Written by Daniel LeVine. Directed by Robert Singer.
